Vertical broiler



March 19, 1968 Filed Jan. 5, 1966 P, w. MILLER 3,373,678

VERT I CAL BRO ILER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. PAUL M/M/ZZZ'E 33 WMW P. W. MILLER VERTICAL BROILER March 19, 1968 2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed Jan. 5, 1966 3,373, 67 Patented Mar. 19, 1968 lice 3,373,678 VERTICAL BROILER Paul W. Miller, 827 W. South St., Kalamazoo, Mich. 49007 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 400,639, Sept. 25, 1964. This application Jan. 3, 1966, Ser. No. 518,088

1 Claim. (Cl. 99389) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vertical broiler having spaced and substantially vertical charcoal beds surrounded by a sidewall and by a bottom wall having an opening between said beds. A base member supports the broiler and a receptacle which is spaced below the broiler. An upper closure member having a handle and a lower closure member supportable upon the base member are held against the broiler by connector means which extend from the top closure member to the receptacle or base member, whereby the entire assembly can be lifted by the handle.

tages over the conventional, pan-type broiler with a horizontal charcoal bed. Some of these advantages have been discussed in detail in my Patent No. 2,975,698 and in my Patent No. 3,056,344. In a continuing effort to develop a better vertical broiler, I have found that the essential and desirable features of the vertical broilers disclosed in said patents can be provided in a broiler construction capable of being produced at a very modest cost. More specifically, it was found that some of the costly features contained in existing vertical broilers can be avoided or eliminated by redesign, thereby reducing very substantially the cost of the finished product.

Moreover, it was also found that, by minor additions to the improved structure, additional utility could be achieved from the improved vertical broiler while still holding its cost substantially below the previous cost for the vertical broiler, only. Furthermore, it was found that certain changes in said vertical broilers would simplify the cleaning and transporting of the vertical broiler. Also, the procedure for extinguishing the ignited charcoal could be more effective and efficient at little or no additional cost.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention has been the provision of an improved vertical broiler having all of the essential and desirable features and elements of existing vertical charcoal broilers, including those disclosed in my above-mentioned patents and, at the same time, having certain additional features and advantages, including a substantially lower initial cost and convenient means for transporting the broiler.

A further object of this invention has been the provision of a vertical broiler, as aforesaid, having an improved food-holding structure particularly capable of use with the improved broiler.

A further object of this invention has been the provision of a vertical charcoal broiler, as aforesaid, which is portable and easy to clean, which requires a minimum of charcoal to perform the broiler operation, which is arranged so that the charcoal can be quickly and easily ignited or extinguished with little effort, and which is simple to assemble and operate.

Other objects and purposes of this invention will become apparent to persons familiar with broilers upon reading the following descriptive material and examining the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of my improved vertical broiler.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of said vertical broiler.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged, broken sectional view taken along the line IVIV in FIGURE 3 and showing a fragment of the food holder and handle in upright positions.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the line VV in FIGURE 4 with the food holder in a substantially horizontal position.

FIGURE 6 is a sectional View taken along the line VI-VI in FIGURE 2 and showing a modified structure.

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VIIVII in FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary side view of a modified vertical broiler.

FIGURE 9 is a side view of the broiler base member in FIGURE 8.

FIGURE 10 is a top view of said base member.

FIGURE 11 is a bottom view of said base member.

For convenience in description, the terms upper," lower and words of similar import will have reference to the vertical broiler and the food holder supported therein as appearing in FIGURES 1 and 3. The terms inner, outer and derivatives thereof will have reference to the geometric center of said broiler and parts thereof.

Gen eral description The vertical broiler of the invention includes a base member upon which a substantially cylindrical container is removably supported. Perforate partition means, which defines an enclosure having open upper and lower ends, is disposed within the container so that it defines a food compartment centrally disposed within said container and two charcoal compartments located on opposite sides of the food compartment. The bottom wall of the container has an opening under the food compartment. Top and bottom closure means are provided for the cylindrical 1 container whereby the chamber within the container can be substantially completely closed to extinguish the ignited charcoal quickly by suffocation.

A food holder formed of two grill members and means for holding said grill members together is removably sup ported within the food compartment by a handle which is supported upon the container.

Detailed construction The vertical broiler 10 (FIGURE 1), which has been selected to illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, includes a base member 11, a food and charcoal container 12, which is removably supported upon the base member 11, and a pair of charcoal holders 13 and 14 which are disposed within the container 12.

The base member 11 (FIGURE 1) includes a shallow receptacle 15 which may be in the form of a conventional, circular pie tin having a bottom wall 16 and a side Wall 17 with a sidewardly extending flange 18 at its upper edge. The base member 11 also includes a substantially rectangular tray 19 preferably fabricated from an endless rod member so that it has substantially parallel end elements 22 and 23 (FIGURE 2) and substantially parallel si-de elements 24 and (FIGURE 3). The side elements 24 and 25 are about equal in length to the diameter of the side wall 17 and they are spaced from each other a distance somewhat less than the diameter of the container 12, so that the end elements 22 and 23, which are downwardly offset from the side elements, can be flexed outwardly around and then under the flange 18 on diametrically opposite sides thereof.

The side elements 24 and 25 (FIGURE 3) have downwardly offset central portions 27 and 28 which form the shoulders 29 and 30 in said side element 25, for example. Said shoulders 29 and 30 are spaced from the central axis of the receptacle 15 a distance slightly greater than the radius of the container 12 for snug reception of the lower end of said container between said shoulders. When the container 12 is supported upon said tray 19 between said shoulders, the lower edge of the container is preferably spaced upwardly from the plane defined by the flange 18 and is also spaced from the side wall 17.

A flat, circular liner 31 (FIGURE 3), which has a diameter approximately equal to the diameter of the bottom wall 16 of the receptacle 15, is removably disposed within said receptacle 15 to catch fats and the like which drop from foods held in the container 12. The liner 31 can be made from any suitable and heat-resistant material, such as aluminum foil.

The container 12 (FIGURES 2 and 3) has a substantially cylindrical side wall 33 and a circular bottom wall 34 which, like the receptacle 15, are preferably fabricated from sheet metal, such as steel. The bottom wall 34 has a diametrically disposed opening 36 which extends diametrically across the bottom wall 34 and which is preferably slightly narrower than one-third of the diameter of the container 12. However, the size and shape of the opening 36 can be varied somewhat without departing from the invention.

The charcoal holders 13 and 14 are, in this embodiment, preferably substantially identical and they are rigidly secured in place on diametrically opposed sides of and within the container 12. More specifically, said charcoal holders 13 and 14 have spaced, opposing and perforate inner walls 37 and 38, respectively, which extend vertically upwardly from, and are aligned with, the opposite lengthwise edges of the opening 36 (FIGURE 3) in the bottom wall 34 of the container 12. The holders 13 and 14 have upright, channel-shaped wall members 39 and 40 which define the side and outer walls of the charcoal holders 13 and 14, respectively. Said channel-shaped wall members are secured, as by rivets, to the side wall 33 of the container 12, and the inner walls 37 and 38 are secured to the wall members 39 and 40, respectively. Accordingly, the charcoal briquets 41, or the like, are held within the charcoal holders 13 and 14, the bottom walls of which are provided by the bottom wall 34 of the container 12.

The air space provided by the chambers 42 and 43 between the side wall 33 and the adjacent portions of the wall members 39 and 40 help to insulate the side wall 33 from the heat produced by said charcoal. Moreover, all of the heat necessary to perform a complete broiling operation can be produced by .a single, vertical layer of ignited charcoal briquets.

The inner walls 37 and 38, which define the food compartment 44, are preferably spaced from each other a distance less than approximately half, but not materially less than a third, of the diameter of the side wall 33. This spacing relationship is made possible by the fact that applican'ts invention concerns a relatively compact and portable broiler designed for family use. While this preferred spacing is not intended to limit specifically the size of the unit in terms of inches, it will be recognized that the type of cooking which will be performed will advantageously place the dimensions of the broiler within a preferred range. That is, since it is known that steaks, chops and the like will be broiled in this structure, the space between the walls 37 and 38 cannot exceed the distance at which proper, simultaneous heating of both sides of the food can be accomplished when such food is in the food compartment 44. Also, since the broiler is small and portable, both the vertical height and diameter of the container 12 will preferably be in the range of from 8 to 15 inches. The vertical lengths of the holders 13 and 14 (FIGURE 3) are preferably slightly less than the vertical extent of the container 12 for reasons appearing hereinafter.

A pair of notches 46 and 47 (FIGURE 4) are provided in the upper edge of the side wall 33 of the container 12 preferably at the opposite ends of the diameter of the container 12 which is parallel with and directly above the central lengthwise axis of the opening 36 in the bottom wall 34.

A pair of downwardly opening hooks 48 and 49 (FIG- URE 6) are secured to the wall members 39 and 40, respectively, near the upper edges thereof and preferably midway between side edges thereof. The hooks 48 and 49 extend above the upper edges of the wall members 39 and 40 enough to permit engagement thereof by the I handle 50 in a manner discussed hereinafter.

The food holder 52 (FIGURES 3, 4 and 5) includes a pair of substantially flat and separable grill members 53 and 54 which are preferably fabricated from metal rod, but which can be fabricated from expanded sheet metal secured to reinforcing rod elements. The grill member 53, which is preferably flat and may be referred to as the holding grill, has a pair of side elements 56 and 57 which are substantially parallel. Said side elements have hooked end portions 58 and 58A, and 59 and 59A, respectively, which all extend in the same direction. A plurality of spaced and parallel crOSs rods 62 are rigidly secured at their corresponding ends to, and extend between, the side elements 56 and 57, between their end portions 58, 58A, 59 and 59A. The cross rods 62 are preferably, but not necessarily, disposed upon the inner sides of the side elements 56 and 57, with reference to the entire food holder 52.

The substantially rectangular grill member 54, which may be referred to as the cover grill, has a pair of parallel and spaced side elements 63 and 64 which are spaced from each other a distance similar to the distance between the side elements 56 and 57 on the holding grill 53. A plurality of cross rods 66 are rigidly secured to the inner sides of, and extend between, the side elements 63 and 64, which are preferably slightly curved with their concave sides facing inwardly.

The grills 53 and 54 are held with respect to each other in opposing positions by latch devices, one of which is shown at 67 in FIGURE 3. Said latch device 67 is comprised of an elongated latch member 68 having hinge sleeves 69 at one end thereof to embrace the side element 57, preferably midway between the ends thereof, for pivotal support of said latch member 68. A plurality of aligned openings 72 are provided in the latch member 68 for reception of a latch pin 73 which is secured to, and extends from, the grill 54 in a direction substantially parallel with the cross rods 66. In fact, the latch pin 73 may, for convenience, be an extension of one of the cross rods 66. A second latch device, similar to the latch device 67, may be provided upon the side element 57 and corresponding portion of the grill 54 for the purpose of positioning the grill 54- with respect to the grill 53. Thus, the food, such as meat, which is indicated in broken lines at 74 (FIGURE 5), can be held under pressure by the latch device 67 and another similar latch device between the cover grill 54 and the holding grill 53.

The food holder 52 (FIGURE 3) is loosely receivable down into the food compartment 44 where it is supported upon the inwardly projecting, substantially coaxial end portions 75 and 76 of the handle 50, which has an integral spring 77 urging said end portions 75 and 76 together. The end portions 75 and 76 have inner opposing parts 78 and 79 which are offset sidewardly for engagement with the end portions 58 and 58A or 59 and 59A on the side elements 56 and 57, respectively. The end portions 75 and 76, outwardly of the inner parts 78 and 79, are snugly and slideably received, respectively, into the notches 46 and 47 in the upper edge of the side wall 33,

whereby the food holder 52 (FIGURE 2) is piVOtally and freely supported within the food compartment 44. By offsetting the inner parts 78 and 79 of the handle 77 sidewardly, the weight of the food holder 44, which is suspended from the inner parts 78 and 79, holds the bight 82 of the handle 50 away from the side wall 33 of the container 12, while the broiler is being utilized, thereby keeping the handle 50 cool.

eat is generated in the broiler 10 (FIGURE 2) by solid fuel, such as charcoal briquets 41 in FIGURE 3 and placed within the charcoal holders 13 and 14. The intensity of the heat developed by the charcoal 41 can be controlled over a substantially wide range by controlling the number of charcoal briquets placed within the holders 13 and 14.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the broiler 10 preferably includes upper and lower closure members 83 and 84, respectively, which can be used to extinguish the ignited charcoal 41. The two closure members may be similar, flat receptacles, such as pie tins, which will conveniently nest with the receptacle 15. The upper closure member 83 may also be inverted from its FIGURE 1 position and used as a damper to control the amount'of heated air escaping from the upper end of the container, hence the amount of oxygen drawn into the lower end of the container 12 to replace the escaping air. This, of course, will control the intensity of the heat produced by the charcoal in the container.

The upper closure member 83 has a pair of grooved hinge plates 86 and 87 secured to the top surface of the wall 88 thereof to define a pair of coaxial hinge openings 91 and 92 adjacent said wall 88 into which the inner ends 78 and 79, respectively, of the handle 50 are receivable. Said hinge plates 86 and 87 are preferably spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the distance between the end portions 75 and 76 of the handle 50 adjacent said end portions. Thus, the spring 77 constantly urges the ends 78 and 79 toward each other and firmly into the openings 91 and 92. The upper closure member 83 has a radially extending flange 93 which is substantially parallel with the wall 88.

The entire vertical broiler assembly including the container 12, receptacle 15, tray 19, and the closure members 83 and 84 is held together by the holding devices 89 and 90 in the compact arrangement disclosed in FIGURE 1, wherein the upper and lower ends of the container 12 are tightly closed. Said devices 89 and 90 comprise a pair of spiral springs 95 and 96 which are connected at one end of each, by the hooks 97 and 98, to the flange 93, preferably on diametrically opposite sides thereof adjacent the hinge plates 86 and 87. The other ends of the spiral springs 95 and 96 are connected to rod members 101 and 102 having integral hooks 103 and 104 at the lower ends thereof and engageable with the flange 18 on the receptacle 15.

It will be recognized that the above-described vertical broiler assembly can be carried by manually engaging one of the devices 89 and 90 so that the handle 50 may be unnecessary. In such case, the books 48 and 49 on the wall members 39 and 40 can be engaged by the offset central portion 106 of a rod 107 having manually engageable knobs 108 and 109 on its opposite ends. Likewise, the rod 107 can also be used in place of the handle 50 to engage the end hooks 58, 58A, 59 and 59A for the purpose of supporting the food holder 52 within the food compartment 44.

The closure member 84 may be provided with an integral, sidewardly extending handle 112, if desired.

Operation The operation of the vertical broiler may be substantially the same as the operation of the broiler disclosed in patent application Ser. No. 400,693. That is, the charcoal is placed in the charcoal holders 13 and 14 and thereafter ignited. The meat 74, for example, is placed between grills 53 and 54, after which the latch devices, such as the latch device 67, are fastened to hold the grills tightly against the meat. The end hooks 58 and 59 at one end or the other of the food holder 52 are then engaged either by the handle 50 or the rod 107 and the food holder 52 is lowered into the food compartment 44 where it is suspended by engagement of the handle or the rod with the upper edge portions of the container 12. The notches 46 and 47 positively locate the food holder 52 in the proper position within the food compartment 44. The position of the food holder 52 can be reversed around either a vertical or horizontal axis by first removing said food holder from the food compartment and then making the proper adjustment, by manipulation of the handle 50 or rod 107.

The modified base member is comprised of a wire rod tray 116 attached to a lower receptacle 117 which may be substantially identical with the receptacle 15 of FIG- URE 2. The tray 116 is comprised of four corner posts 118, 119, and 121. The corner posts 118 and 121 are interconnected by an ar-cuate base rod 124, and the corner posts 119 and 120 are connected by an arcuate base rod 125, said base rods being preferably coplanar. A pair of intermediate, arcuate rods 127 and 128 are secured respectively to the corner posts 118, 121 and 119, 120 so that they are directly above and substantially parallel with the base rods 124 and 125, respectively. The aforementioned securing between the rods and corner posts can be effected by welding or any other means.

The corner posts 118 and 119 are connected to the opposite ends of an upper support rod 129, and the upper ends of the corner posts 120 and 121 are connected to the opposite ends of an upper support rod 130. As shown in FIGURE 10, the support rods 129 and 130 have central portions 133 and 134, respectively, which are oflset inwardly and downwardly so that they are preferably parallel and disposed within a plane parallel with the plane defined by the base rods 124 and 125. The offset of the central portions 133 and 134 creates the shoulders 136 and 137 at the opposite ends of said rods. The distances between these shoulders 136 and 137 are preferably such that they will snugly engage the side wall 138 of a receptacle 139 similar to the receptacle 117 and having its bottom wall 142 resting upon said central portions 133 and 134.

The receptacle 117 has its upper flange 143 resting upon the intermediate rods 127 and 128 to which said flange is preferably secured, as by spot welding. Thus, the receptacle 117 becomes an integral part of the tray 116. The corner posts 118, 119, 120 and 121 are sufiiciently long to space the bottom wall 144 substantially above the plane defined by the base rods 124 and 125, whereby air can circulate under the receptacle 117.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in detail above for illustrative purposes, it will be understood that variations or modifications of such disclosure, which lie within the scope of the appended claims, are fully contemplated.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A small, portable and vertical broiler, capable of holding ignited charcoal, comprising:

a substantially cylindrical, upwardly opening and portable container having a side wall and a bottom wall; partition means including a pair of spaced, perforate and substantially parallel wall means extending between corresponding portions of said side wall to define therewith a pair of separated compartments on opposite sides of said partition means, said perforate wall means being spaced from each other a distance not greater than about one-half of the diameter of said container and defining an upwardly opening food chamber;

means defining an opening in the bottom wall of said container, said opening extending diametrically and substantially across said bottom wall parallel with said perforate wall means and being approximately equal in width to the perpendicular distance between said wall means whereby said food chamber is open at its lower end;

a food holder between the perforate wall means;

a relatively shallow receptacle adapted to be positioned near to and directly below the bottom wall of said container, said receptacle extending under most of the lower end of the container;

base means having a plurality of spaced, upright elements and a plurality of horizontal elements secured to and extending between at least two of said upright elements, at least four of said horizontal elements being arranged in spaced pairs defining upper and lower, substantially horizontal planes, said receptacle being supported by the lower pair of horizontal elements and said container being adapted for support by the upper pair of horizontal elements and spaced from said receptacle so that ambient air can pass between said receptacle and said bottom wall and thence upwardly through said opening in said bottom wall;

upper and lower closure members engageable with the 8 upper and lower ends of said container, the lower closure member being removably placeable between said container and said upper horizontal elements, for substantially totally enclosing with said container the zone defined by the container whereby the ignited charcoal within said zone can be quickly extinguished;

handle means connected to said upper closure member;

and

a pair of elongated clamp members having resilient means and extending between and connected to the upper closure member and the receptacle for holding said container and said lower closure member together, whereby said broiler can be supported by said handle means.

- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,168,390 8/1939 Bemis 99402 X 2,221,098 11/1940 Langsarn 12625 2,643,044 6/ 1953 Sundholm 22055 2,661,974 12/1953 Zehnder 220-55.7 3,202,086 8/1965 Brubaker 99351 3,228,319 1/1966 Miller 99389 FOREIGN PATENTS 290,880 5/ 1928 Great Britain. 451,756 9/1949 Italy.

30 WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner.

I. NEARY, Assistant Examiner. 

